Myrna Kostash - Writer of literary and Creative Nonfiction

About Myrna

Myrna Kostash is an acclaimed writer of literary and creative nonfiction who makes her home in Edmonton when she is not travelling in pursuit of her varied literary interests and passions. These have taken her from school halls in Vancouver, BC, to Ukrainian weddings in Two Hills, Alberta; from the site of the mass grave of Cree warriors in Battleford, Saskatchewan, to a fishers’ meeting in Digby, Nova Scotia; from the British Library in London, UK, to the Hagia Sophia in Istanbul. She is inspired in her work by her childhood in the Ukrainian-Canadian community of Edmonton, her rites of passage through the Sixties in the US, Canada and Europe, by her discovery of the New Journalism and feminism in the 1970s, by her rediscovery of her western Canadian roots in the 1980s, and most recently, by her return to her spiritual sources in Byzantium and the Eastern Christian (Orthodox) Church.

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An Evening with Myrna Kostash

In October 2018, at “An Evening with Myrna Kostash,” Myrna presented a talk to the Melbourne members of the Association of Ukrainians of Victoria (Aus), “Ancestors and Elders: Ukrainian-Canadian Settlers, the First Nations and the Myth of ‘Free Land.'”
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Interview with Katerina Anghelaki-Rooke

Myrna’s interview with Greek writer, Katerina Anghelaki-Rooke, appears in issue #101 of Brick magazine (Myrna’s favourite hot spot for literary nonfiction). Buy a copy!

The Seven Oaks Reader, continues to get notice:

Good Reads review >
All Lit Up overview >
Scottish Review of Books >
Alvin Finkel, Athabasca University >

Kobzar Literary Award

Myrna is thrilled to be one of seven women writers who have won the Kobzar Biennial Literary Award for "outstanding contributions to Canadian literary arts by authors who develop a Ukrainian Canadian theme with literary merit" for the anthology Unbound: Ukrainian-Canadians Writing Home, edited by Lindy Ledohowski and Lisa Grekul and published by University of Toronto Press with cover art by Toronto artist Natalka Husar. The prize, worth $25,000 and sponsored by the Shevchenko Foundation, was announced at a sold-out gala in Toronto March 1, 2018.

More from Prairie Fire >

Zemlya/Nanaskomun, We Give Thanks for the Land was a Ukrainian-Canadian and Aboriginal Ceremonial Exchange of Gifts presented to both communities in September 2012 by Myrna Kostash and Sharon Pasula, Metis activist. The program booklet for Shumka Dancers' recent new production, Ancestors and Elders, April 2018 and March 2019 states: "We acknowledge the foresight of Myrna Kostash and Sharon Pasula whose project entitled Zemlya/Nanaskomun first brought these stories to our attention."

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What Is Peace In a Time of War?
I try to imagine – fifty-eight years after the event – the impact on the Vietnamese, whether armed Viet Cong in jungle trenches or villagers cowering under a hail of ammo – of massed, youthful choruses, halfway across the planet, screaming in unison Make Love Not War! And how Read more >
Being Ukrainian Orthodox in a Time of War: Part One
I began writing this post near the end of February 2022, on tenterhooks along with much of the world about the likelihood of a war being unleashed by Russian military forces on the sovereign territory of Ukraine. As I post it, this is Day 125 of Russia’s war on Ukraine and its people. July 12 Read more >

Short-listed for the WGA's Wilfrid Eggleston Award for Nonfiction!

Kobzar Literary Award winner!

Acclaimed Writer of Literary and Creative Nonfiction

Recently Published

Writing Ukraine

Award Winning

Ghosts in a Photograph a chronicle

Recent Articles

About Myrna